Refrigerate eggs but not potatoes: tips to put chill on kitchen tiffs

Official advice on best way to store foodstuffs may assist in settling rows over putting the shopping away

PUT eggs and parsnips in the fridge but keep onions and potatoes in a cupboard, new government guidance advises – which should settle age-old rows in kitchens about putting the shopping away.

Bread is best stored in a cupboard, while grapes will last longer be kept in the fridge. “Bendy parsnips” belong in the fridge and will “soon perk up” if slices are chopped from each end.

The guidance on how to store food safely has been published by Wrap, the Government’s food waste watchdog, amid concerns that households have started to waste more food now lockdown is easing.

Wrap said it hoped its guidance would “encourage people to keep up their pre-shop planning, smart storage, and creative cooking, as well as explaining the crucial impact this will have on the planet, as well as the cost of their food shop”.

Research in June found that although people have found ways to manage food better, “selfreported waste” has increased by 30 per cent compared with the early stages of lockdown.

The tips on Wrap’s LoveFoodHateWaste website could finally mean an end to arguments over where to keep foods and stop it going off.

While some of it may seem obvious to Sunday Telegraph readers familiar with how to run their kitchens, it will be seized on by young people living alone who are desperate to get the most from their weekly shop.

Among products that should be kept in the fridge are eggs – “best kept in their box to protect them” – and parsnips, which can then be frozen after being blanched in boiling water.

Aubergines should also be kept in the fridge, but can be frozen too as long as they are sliced and grilled first to stop them “going mushy”. Also best stored in the fridge are apples and pears, although they can be frozen if cut into slices and “quickly cooked in boiling water”. A definite no-no for the fridge are bananas, which must be kept “somewhere nice and cool, in a cupboard or on the side, ideally in their original packaging. Bananas will go black in the fridge”.

Other foods that should go in a cupboard include red, brown and white onions, which “are best stored in a cool, dry, dark place, ideally in a cloth bag”.

Spring onions should be kept in the fridge, though.

Potatoes, too, should be left “in a cool, dry, dark place, ideally in a cloth bag and away from strong-smelling foods like onions”, the guidance says.

The advice also offers tips on household budgeting, suggesting buying a big block of hard cheese “to make the most of a store bargain” before grating it and freezing to eat later. Fizzy drinks should be bought in smaller quantities to avoid waste, while “soft drinks that have gone flat are great for freezing into ice lollies”. Wine is best stored “in a cool dark place or in the fridge once opened”, the guidance says, adding – perhaps optimistically – that households can “freeze leftover wine in ice cube trays, then store in an airtight container” if there is any left.

The debate over what should sit in the fridge rages on: new advice says refrigerate apples and pears, eggs and parsnips – but keep potatoes and onions in the larder. Many people do the opposite; potatoes are kept chilled whereas apples sit in a fruit bowl. Aubergines are definitely a fridge food, apparently, although they can be frozen, too, so long as they are sliced and grilled first. In this heat, however, many readers will be inclined to remove all foods from the fridge to make room for themselves. Some new models are large enough to accommodate a small chair; the best come with an inbuilt ice dispenser. Keep some fruit within reach and you can make a refreshing jug of Pimm’s.